


Hydrophobia

by Era_Penn



Series: The Idiot Genius and His Somewhat Blind Hawk [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Aquaphobia, Canon Typical Violence, Cuddles, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, PTSD, Pre-Slash, Tony Feels, angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-23
Updated: 2013-12-27
Packaged: 2018-01-05 20:05:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1098077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Era_Penn/pseuds/Era_Penn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony Stark doesn't like water. It's a good thing Clint notices, because no one else does.</p><p>But now he has some explaining to do, because he hit the water mid-fight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"A pool? Why do you want a pool?" Tony asked, confused.

"Uh, to swim in?" Steve replied, a little confused. "I thought for sure you'd have one."

"Not actually a big fan of swimming unless it's in the actual ocean, cap. Preferably with a surfboard." Tony grinned. "I don't think I can actually have a pool this high up due to various building regulations, but I can get you a membership to a really good one a few blocks over while I look into it."

"That'd be great, thanks." Steve smiled. At first the Avengers had been hesitant to take advantage of Tony's riches, but when he made it clear that he didn't care, and maybe even that he _wanted_ to buy them things, they started relying on him for more extravagant monetary expenses.

Tony nodded and forced a grin, returning to his work.

A few weeks later, a pool was added to the employee workout floor; apparently putting one on the Avenger floors broke several New York zoning laws, but Steve was cool with that, and occasionally the whole team would go and just play in the water, though Tony was always too busy. It surprised Clint, a bit - Tony always wanted to hang out with the team (the archer thought the billionaire was worried that they were all going to disappear or leave when they got annoyed).


	2. Chapter 2

After he noticed that, Clint started noticing Tony's other odd habits. For example, one day after an exhausting eighteen hour battle with Dr. Doom; they were all filthy and absolutely covered in muck and sweat and grime and goo. After a previous incident, Tony had put showers in the armory, making into a sort of locker room.

He got in, washed off the dirt, and got out in a matter of less than ten minutes, while the rest of them just soaked for almost an hour, vanishing into the lab quickly after without talking to any of them.

* * *

And then that time they had to go into the sewers chasing rogue killer lizard bots. Tony's armor had gotten severely damaged, and he hung behind the rest of the group to watch their backs; Clint noticed he flinched whenever a drop of water hit his face, but didn't really think anything of it at the time. Sewer water was disgusting.


	3. Chapter 3

He didn't put all the pieces together until he went out to a press conference in the rain with the billionaire one day though. The genius was way over the top about keeping dry, requesting Happy to come get them from the garage and actually carrying his own umbrella, very, very careful not to get wet. Clint, who was along as a voluntary bodyguard (even if Tony and the others wouldn't acknowledge it, the genius was a big target) was amused.

"Afraid of a little water, Stark?"

"Nah, just don't want to get the eight thousand dollar suit wet," Tony laughed, avoiding eye contact. And Clint got it.

"Oh, sorry man, didn't realize," he smirked. "Your swimsuit too expensive to get wet, too?"

"Obviously," Tony replied, relaxing with a grateful grin. Clint smirked.

Unfortunately, the rest of the team didn't notice until it became an issue.


	4. Chapter 4

"Tony, on your six!" Clint gasped, regaining his footing and staring up in horror.

"Shit!" Tony gasped, and then went down. Right into the river.

"I'm going after Iron Man," Clint said. "Everyone watch your back." 

Ignoring the others, who were really confused by the fact that Clint was going after the billionaire, who had taken far worse hits and still been able to fight, Clint ran down to the riverside, taking out a few of the smaller monsters on his way, when he arrived, Tony was on the bank, fumbling with his sparking helmet, which released to allow water to come pouring out of the armor. Normally, the suit was air and water-tight. In the middle of a prolonged battle, with heavy damage...

Clint got right in front of him, hoping the billionaire would recognize him and NOT shoot him.

"Tony?" He said, voice soft. "Tony, look at me, focus, you're here now, not there." Tony latched onto his voice like a lifeline, arms coming up to grip his leathers, but not his arms. Still coherent enough to remember he could hurt them with the armor then, good.

"Clint." He gasped, the word a plea.

"Take a deep breath Tony." The billionaire shook his head violently. "Come on, Tones, you can trust me." He rattled off the date, the time, supplemented by Jarvis spouting statistics, ignoring his teammates in his ear clamoring for attention. "Deep breath, it's fine, promise, you're here and you survived-"

Tony took a huge, gasping breath, and another, and slowly he got back to a more normal state of mind, though he was still trembling. Clint felt terrible, but... "Suit up, Iron Man. We'll get drunk and talk later, but we're in the middle of a firefight."

Tony nodded, putting the damp helmet back on and instantly grabbing back onto the archer, just for a minute while he readjusted, and then they were off.

"Hawkeye, what the hell -"

"Later, cap!" He bellowed, throwing himself back into the fight as the whine of repulsors made evident that Tony was doing the same thing.

And doing it quite terrifyingly. The Iron Man seemed to be everywhere at once, and Hawkeye shot deadly and precise to cover his back, sometimes missing the other man by mere inches.

The battle was over within the hour, and Tony gave him a ride back to the Tower to skip debrief, landing and getting out of the wet armor as fast as possible. Clint was there to catch him. "Deep breath, Tones," he said, supporting him to the kitchen. The billionaire was trembling and barely on his feet. "Jarvis, what do I do?" Everyone had their ways of handling flashbacks, and he had no doubt the AI would know.

" _Take him to the sunroom, Agent Barton._ " Jarvis replied. " _And bring pretzels and garlic with you._ " Clint obeyed, grabbing the food and assisting the billionaire down the stairs to the sunroom.

It was a huge, open area on one of the corners of the tower, windowed on three sides and ridiculously warm. Tony stumbled his was to a closet on one side, pulling out a towel, a spare pair of sweats, a sweater, and a thick wool blanket. Once he was in other clothes and dry, he wrapped up in the blanket and settled on the couch, apparently having forgotten Clint's presence, curled in a ball swathed in warm fabric and trembling like mad. How often, the archer wondered, had the genius curled up alone, staring out over the city to scrape raw memory from his brain through sheer willpower?

He moved, placing the pretzels and garlic where Tony could reach before joining him in the large loveseat. The billionaire surprised him by leaning into whatever contact Clint was willing to offer, which was a lot. Soon they were cuddling close, Tony's face pressed into his neck and his whole body curled into his side. Clint wrapped his arms around the man.

"What happened?"

"Afghanistan." Tony's voice cracked. "They wanted me to build for them. Had a car battery in my chest. Fine with one or the other usually, but with the suit damaged..."

Clint winced. Waterboarding combined with exposed electricity, and recently enough that the billionaire couldn't have recovered - he was doing far better than anyone had any right to expect. By the time the team got back to demand answers, Tony was asleep, and Clint very close. Natasha, trusting, scared the others away. They could take a day.

But when they woke up, Clint would have some questions to answer; he wasn't going to make Tony do it.


	5. Chapter 5

Clint got up and slipped out of the warm, bright room early the next morning. Tony had slept without nightmares, which Clint found odd, but Jarvis said it was rare for Tony to actually have a nightmare the same day as a flashback, particularly if someone was with him; he was too exhausted.

The rest of the team was waiting to corner him, and he held up placating hands. "Let a guy get a coffee before bombarding him, would ya?" His easygoing manner allowed them all to calm down a bit as he got himself a coffee and turned, leaning against the counter.

"So. How much do the lot of you know about Afghanistan?"

"Just that Stark was held for three months as a prisoner of the terrorist group the Ten Rings before escaping under his own power with the arc lodged in his chest." Natasha replied. "After a convoy he was with was attacked by said terrorists, hired by someone to kill him."

"And what about during those three months?"

"No one knows. Stark never talked about it."

Clint nodded. "Thought so. Well, see, the terrorists realized who they'd been hired to kill and wanted to make use of him first. At the time, he was the largest civilian weapons contractor among the US and her allies. The Ten Rings wanted him to build for them." 

Natasha swore, seeing where this was going. "He said no, the stubborn man."

Clint nodded. "At that point he had an exposed battery in his chest, not the reactor. They decided to persuade him. Waterboarding with exposed electrical wires... Well. And he was a civilian - he's honestly doing much better than anyone would have any right to expect. He still dislikes shocks and water on his face, but he can deal with it. Mix the two together, though, and..."

"Flashbacks." Bruce buried his face in his hands. "Damn."

"Isn't the suit watertight?"

"After prolonged battle?" Clint asked. Natasha cursed again.

Steve sighed. "Why didn't he tell us?"

"Well, I figured it out a while ago, though I didn't know the specifics until last night." Clint shrugged. "It's not like we've talked about our triggers, and I know the lot of us have them."

"Indeed," Thor said, voice rumbly. "Even I have 'triggers' as you call them, and I was raised to be a great warrior in a people of great warriors. They merely prove us human, or Asgardian."

"Why the garlic?" Natasha asked.

"Dunno, Jarvis said." Clint shrugged. "I figured if anyone knew how to help, he would."

"Always trust Jarvis," a sleep-muddled Tony agreed from the doorway. "Even if I'm trying to disagree with him."

"Feeling better?" Clint asked.

"Much. Thanks, Katniss." Tony grinned at him, returning the garlic and much emptier bag of pretzels to a cupboard. "Sorry for making use of your teddy bear qualities."

"No problem. I always knew I'd make an excellent teddy." Clint's eyes widened in horror as soon as he realized what he'd said. "Wait-"

"Aw, Teddy," Tony said with a grin, "You only had to ask if you wanted a cuddle!" He ran off laughing maniacally, Clint hot on his heels.

Steve, Natasha and Bruce blinked after them. "Wait," Bruce said, slowly, "when did that happen?"

"A few weeks ago," Natasha replied, "but except for the cuddles, the stupid bird hasn't done anything about it yet."

"Tony is an idiot, for a genius." Steve said with a sigh.

"He is not very studied in matters of the heart, except where it is most painful." Thor said. "In fact, even if he noticed, he likely would hide it for fear of further pain."

"I quite agree." Jarvis.

They all looked at each other.

Something had to be done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed! :)
> 
> Now, this isn't the end; for anyone interested in the furthering bromance or possibly romance of Clintony, I have turned this into a series, because I wasn't planning on this becoming slash but it sort of started to. So! This work is over, but those who want more can keep going.
> 
> It's never going to enter smut territory, so please don't ask.


End file.
